Gibbons: No gator haters allowed

Alligators are clearly an important animal for us to have around. I say this because of the seemingly never-ending questions people ask about them. Following are some recent ones.

Whit

Gibbons

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Q. -- I have not been able to find the answer to my grandson's question -- can alligators jump, as over a fence? I thought I heard once that they could. Could you answer this one for us, please?

A. -- Alligators cannot jump over fences, but I have seen alligators up to 6 feet long climb over both chicken wire and chain-link fences. I'm not sure how high they might climb to get over a fence, but certainly several feet.

Q. -- How fast can an alligator move on land? (In one form or another, this is one of the most frequently asked questions about alligators.)

A. -- Alligators can run about as fast as a person for a few feet out of the water, but they are unable to sustain the speed for very long. The only alligators I have ever encountered that chased me were irate females that were guarding a nest or that had babies they were protecting. I have always been able to outrun such females and believe that their intent is not to catch an intruder but simply to scare it away. A huge, hissing reptile charging with an open mouth and big teeth works very well for this purpose.

Q. -- How big do alligators get? (This is another frequently asked question.)

A. -- Adult female alligators characteristically are 6 to 9 feet in length, whereas males commonly attain lengths of about 12 feet and can weigh more than 500 pounds. The largest size ever reported for an alligator was slightly over 19 feet. The gator was from Louisiana and the person who measured it was E. A. McIlhenny, the same person who created Tabasco sauce. McIlhenny also reported specimens from 15 to 18 feet long, but the majority of large alligators noted by him were 10 to 12 feet, the normal maximum size seen today. Exceedingly large alligators, above 14 feet, appear to be rare or absent in today's world. In fact, a scientific study recently concluded that no alligator has ever reached a length of 15 feet.

Is the absence of the giants reported from yesteryear a consequence of the elimination of most older, larger individuals during the early part of the century? Or were the extreme sizes reported in the past a result of unintentional misreporting or mismeasurement? Whatever the true maximum size ever attained by an alligator may be, 12- to 13-foot individuals weighing more than a quarter of a ton are around today.

A fact sheet about alligators can be found at www.parcplace.org/education/pdf/Alligator%20FS.pdf.

If you have an environmental question or comment, email ecoviews@srel.edu.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, May 21, 2001.